


On Immortality

by wrecked_anon



Category: The Avengers (2012), Thor (Movies)
Genre: FrostIron - Freeform, Immortality, Loki Angst, M/M, Meta
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-02-13
Updated: 2013-02-13
Packaged: 2017-11-29 03:19:34
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 595
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/682127
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wrecked_anon/pseuds/wrecked_anon
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Meta-exploration of the implications of Loki's immortality. Implied Frostiron.</p>
            </blockquote>





	On Immortality

To be immortal is to be left out of time. Sure, you exist as a being in time, (insofar as you participate in time, can effect change over time); but you only observe its effects on the surrounding environment. You will never know them yourself. You are waterproof in a rainstorm--you see the rain and feel it hit your skin but you will never understand what it means to be wet. Time’s ravages are never personal; you do not struggle against the knowledge that your time as a living creature has an end date, that _every single thing you ever did or aspired to do is on a timer_. You do not understand that acquiescence to Death, that whisper, at long last, _I too will die_. You do not understand the inexorable march of time, pushing you forward against your will; time has no power over you. Where is the hurry, the drive to create? _Everything_ can be done later. 

The only things that force you to deal with time are deadlines ( _X must be completed by Y or else Z occurs)_  and associating yourself with mortals. _More like stepping into the stream of time and letting it wash over you._

 

_It was overwhelming sometimes, when he set foot on Earth again after too long an absence. He needed this, to be reminded that not all things in the universe were infinite, and that made them sweeter, their qualities enhanced by the knowledge of impending loss. It was that which attracted him all the more inexorably to Tony._

_Tyger tyger burning bright_   
_In the forests of the night_   
_What immortal hand or eye_   
_Could frame thy fearful symmetry?_

_In what distant deeps or skies_   
_Burnt the fire of thine eyes?_   
_On what wings dare he aspire?_   
_What the hand dare sieze the fire?_

 

Mortals pull you into time so abruptly and painfully. They make you impatient and overprotective, and gods forbid anything might require Asgard to act on behalf of Midgard; the timing would be completely off. You’d be screaming at them to

_“Hurry up for chrissakes; he’s not going to make it if you don’t send help immediately”_

but the words would be unfamiliar, like _hurry_ and _immediately_ and where in the nine realms did you pick up "chrissakes" Loki, you’re spending too much time with that human, look at you.

_Loki;_ _you who feel too much and show too little._

How could this not destroy you?

 

You are forever sitting on the bank of that river, watching it pass and change, wearing away at the banks and the stones, smoothing them flat and round. But you will never understand the pull of that current, forcing the water ever forward. You will never be water; you are fire and mischief barely contained. You can only observe. Not all the sympathy in all the realms, if you could rally it to yourself, would give you the knowledge of what it means to be human.

_“You will never_ get _this_ _, Loki, so don’t you_ _even_ try _to fu_ _cking tell me to slow down, to take a break, or get some sleep. You have_ no _idea what it’s like to look ahead and know that there's a timer ticking down on all the things you can do and create and_ be _._ _A day is gonna come and I'm gonna be_ out of time." _  
_

Tony is spiraling out of control and you cannot catch him as he falls. _Ironic_ , you think bitterly, considering that only a few months prior you were tossing him out a window.

**Author's Note:**

> Fun fact: this started as a musing on getting older (written on the eve of my 25th birthday) and turned into Frostiron. Surprise surprise. Comments and thoughts welcome! I think it's an endlessly fascinating and angsty topic.
> 
> The eight lines of poetry are from William Blake's The Tyger, which sprang into my head as I was writing this. I didn't even realize how appropriate it was until I looked at the full poem, and then I couldn't not include it.
> 
> This is probably the only fic you will ever see from me in second person.


End file.
